1. Alexei Zverev Senior Counsel, EBRD Budapest , 7 March 2007
Overview of Concession Legislation in Countries of Central and Eastern Europe
Alexei Zverev
Senior Counsel, EBRD
Budapest , 7 March 2007

2. Issues to be discussed EBRD’s Legal Transition Programme (LTP)
PPP policy
Legal framework
Results of EBRD evaluations
Legislative trends and challenges

3. LTP activities in the area of PPP
EBRD:
Participates in and contributes to international standard-setting initiatives
Monitors and analyses the status of legal transition in its countries of operations and develops measurement tools to assess legal risk for EBRD investments
Develops and implements technical assistance projects in its countries of operations
Advances legal reform through various outreach activities, including publication of its legal journal, Law in transition

4. PPP policy Why policy issues are important Legal framework
Institutional infrastructure
Awareness and professional development

5. Legal framework Clear Stable Predictable Fair Flexible

6. EBRD Legal Assessments
Legal Indicator Surveys
Sector Laws Assessment

7. Sector Laws Assessment : Methodology
Development of a Concession Checklist
Reference to relevant "international standards" as benchmarks (in particular the UNCITRAL Legislative Guide on Privately Financed Infrastructure Projects)
Assessment per/classification by core area
Global assessment: total amount of points per core area
Distinction between countries with a single Concession Law and those without it (assessment of the first two chapters only)

8. Countries with a concession law – 2005 update of EBRD Concessions Law Assessment

9. Scores per dimension/core area
Policy framework as a separate criterion
Is there a direct correlation/link between policy and legal framework?
Are general perceptions proved to be right?
“Best” and “worst” core areas

10. Levels of compliance in core areas of concessions legislation – Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovak Republic

11. Levels of compliance in core areas of concessions legislation – Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania - 2005

12. Legal Indicator Survey
Methodology
Case Study
Challenges
Results

13. Measuring the effectiveness of concessions legal frameworks – 2006 Legal Indicator Survey10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
100
*Uzbekistan
*Tajikistan
*Belarus
*Kyrgyz Rep.
*Azerbaijan
Moldova
Montenegro
Russia
*Mongolia
*Armenia
Poland
Ukraine
Bosnia and Herz.
*Estonia
*Albania
Latvia
Georgia
Serbia
*Slovak Rep.
FYR Macedonia
Croatia
Kazakhstan
Hungary
Lithuania
Romania
*Slovenia
Bulgaria
*Czech Rep.
Per cent
Existence of Concessions
Selection Process
Project Agreement
Termination
* Countries that implemented only one concession as defined or none at all by July 2006
Very
efficient
Not

14. Measuring compliance of concessions legislation against international standards
Concessions Laws in Transition Countries
Extensiveness v. Effectiveness 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
100
*Czech Rep.
*Estonia
Hungary
Latvia
Lithuania
Poland
*Slovak Rep.
*Slovenia
*Albania
Bosnia and Herz.
Bulgaria
Croatia
FYR Macedonia
Montenegro
Romania
Serbia
*Armenia
*Azerbaijan
*Belarus
Georgia
Kazakhstan
*Kyrgyz Rep.
Moldova
*Mongolia
Russia
*Tajikistan
Turkmenistan
Ukraine
*Uzbekistan
Extensiveness EBRD 2005
Effectiveness EBRD 2006
Per cent
CEB
SEE
CIS
(and Mongolia)
Very high
compliance/
effectiveness
Very low
* Countries that only implemented one concession as defined
or none at all by July 2006

15. Common impediments to PPP
Absence of a clear PPP policy
Inadequacy of concession laws relative to international legal best standards
Lack of institutional support and capacity / lack of skilled public sector officials
Security/assignment restrictions
Lack of variety of capital market instruments
Budgetary constraints

16. Some legislative trends
General concessions law environment vs sector laws approach
Estonia
Kazakhstan/Slovak Republic
Romania

17. Conclusion
EBRD countries of operations have much room for improvement. Most still need to contemplate and implement further law reform to modernise their legal framework if they wish to enable PPPs.

18. Alexei Zverev Senior Counsel, EBRD zverevA@ebrd.com
Alexei Zverev
Senior Counsel, EBRD